Hartford goes from D1 to D3 After Making the Tournament
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Causing quite the ruckus. Weird.
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Why is it a big deal? I assume the move is a financially motivated one.
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@Kcmatt7 Idk but idiots like Goodman are up in arms for some reason.
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@BShark Without knowing anything about the situation, my guess is that they are losing money on athletics at the D1 level.
The switch to D3 means players won’t get free tuition anymore. Which will probably make the athletics program a bit more profitable. (Always sort of blows my mind how D3 schools even get people to come play, but they do…)
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@Kcmatt7 said in Hartford goes from D1 to D3 After Making the Tournament:
@BShark Without knowing anything about the situation, my guess is that they are losing money on athletics at the D1 level. The switch to D3 means players won’t get free tuition anymore. Which will probably make the athletics program a bit more profitable. (Always sort of blows my mind how D3 schools even get people to come play, but they do…)
Years ago, I had a buddy who went to a really small college up in Wisconsin. When he came back for Christmas vacation he proceeded to tell me he made the football team as a third string QB. Great, except for the fact the most football he had played previously was in neighborhood pick up games after school and he had never shown any real ability to throw the ball too far or too accurately. Still one of the great mysteries.
Long story short, I suppose kids go to D3 just to play sports they love at a college level. Many of them are not, I assume, good enough to earn athletic scholarships at bigger schools but still want to participate somehow.
Looking back, I probably should have gone that route. Being just over 6-feet tall and able to dunk a tennis ball with no blocking ability, I could have made a good backup center for someone.
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@Kcmatt7 said in Hartford goes from D1 to D3 After Making the Tournament:
@BShark Without knowing anything about the situation, my guess is that they are losing money on athletics at the D1 level.
The switch to D3 means players won’t get free tuition anymore. Which will probably make the athletics program a bit more profitable. (Always sort of blows my mind how D3 schools even get people to come play, but they do…)
Working at a high school where D1 talent is few and far between, I can tell you kids just want to play. They want to hold onto that dream that they might eventually make it big AS LONG as they can. And hey, if it keeps them motivated to get a degree along the way, all the better. I sometimes wish I’d have taken a couple of years to play golf at a non D1 school just to see how good I could have really been. I’m pretty happy with my English degree from KU though, especially getting to graduate in 2008 which was kind of a special year.
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An above average HS athlete can probably make a D3 team if they are a good student and hard worker. For many D3 schools, once you get into their backups, the talent pool begins to thin out. If you are a good student (D3’s don’t give out athletic scholarships, only academic) you have a good shot to make the team, particularly if you are willing to stay and work.
Because of that, it makes it more financially palatable for the college. Most games are regionalized. Many of the conferences are located within the same state, in fact. It does give a student a chance to live their dream, but since these are almost all private colleges, if you aren’t on academic scholarship, be prepared to pay $35k or more per year.
